


Three Things

by carolinenite



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Fanfic Challenge, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-06-15 15:34:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15416091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolinenite/pseuds/carolinenite
Summary: For lilacmermaid's April Challenge-- 3 Things





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone-- are you still out there?  
> Just to be clear, this piece isn't finished. There will be a second chapter, but it's not written yet, and I don't know when it will be. I saw Mettespo's note about the fandom dying, and it spurred me into posting this, incomplete though it may be!
> 
> Once I finish the second chapter, I'll add a note about what the three things were that I was assigned to include in this story.
> 
> I'm still here, and I hope everyone else is, too!

Will read the post-it that Mackenzie had just handed him once and then again.  Nodding, he crumpled the grocery list and tossed it at the trash can with a cavalier grin.  Mackenzie narrowed her eyes at him and shrugged out of her raincoat, hanging it on the coat rack in Will’s office.

“It’s three things, Mac.  You think I can’t get there?”

“History says, no.  You’ll come home with two of the three things and five or six extraneous foods that don’t fit into any recipe.  Or worse!  You’ll come home with $300 of wine and no food whatsoever.  I’ll end up having to order takeout, and…”  She threw up her hands.

“Tomato sauce.  Fresh sage.  Heavy cream.”

“You’re hopeless!”

Will furrowed his brow at her words and retrieved the crumpled post-it.

“Tomato sauce.  Fresh sage.  Heavy cream.”  He looked between the list and Mackenzie.  She continued to stare at him, incredulous.  Will turned the list toward her.  “Tomato sauce, fresh sage, and heavy cream?”

“I’ll bet anything you want that you don’t come home with those things tonight, Billy.”

“Anything?”  He cocked an eyebrow at her.

“Absolutely.  Doesn’t matter what I wager.  You are incapable of doing it without the list.”  Will smoothed the post-it out on the desk, folded it in half, and tucked it into his wallet, all the while offering Mackenzie a satisfied smirk.  “I ought to kiss that smug look right off your face.”

“Don’t tempt me with a good time, McHale.”

“Okay, well, I have to go do work now.”  She narrowed her eyes at him again, aiming for severe and coming far short.  “You should do a job, too, you know?”  She turned to leave Will’s office.

“Mac—Mac—Mac—Mac—Mac.”  Will brought her up short.  She turned back, as though physically tugged by his words.  “Shoes, hon.”

They both looked to Mac’s feet, still clad in the black, 3 inch block-heeled, knee-high, overpriced rain boots that Mackenzie had fallen in love with during a stroll down 34th street several weeks ago.  ‘You’ll never wear them,’ Will had said as he smiled and indulgently handed his credit card to the cashier.  She had bitten her lip and silently vowed to prove him wrong.  The inconvenience of having to tote around an extra pair of shoes was outweighed by the joy of warm, dry feet.

Mackenzie smiled and crossed across the office back to Will’s desk, popping up onto it with a smile.

“Help a girl out?”  She extended one leg to Will.  He looked at her pointedly, and she cocked her head to the side.  “Please?”

A smile broke through Will’s façade of stoicism, and he tugged at the boot.

“You know, hon, I don’t think it will matter if I remember to bring home everything on your list.  You’ve never stuck to a recipe in your life.”

The first rain boot came off, and Will dropped it at her feet, seizing the opportunity to massage the sole her of Mackenzie’s now bare foot for a moment.  Her head dropped back, and she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth.  A light, involuntary moan escaped her lips.

“Could it be that I don’t stick to recipes because you don’t ever bring home the ingredients that I need?”

Will let her foot go and reached for the other boot, tugging gently.  This one didn’t come away from her leg as easily, and Will pulled harder. 

“Did you stick this one on with superglue?”

“I cobbled it on with the broken dreams of recipes long incomplete.”

“That,” he paused to give a sharp tug on Mac’s boot, “was poorly constructed.”  The boot finally gave way, and Will took a step back to maintain his balance.  “And these are ridiculous.  What were you thinking?”  He cast a sideways look at the rain boots.

“Obviously how nice they’d look, Billy.”  She wrinkled her nose at him and extended the foot that had not benefitted from a brief massage.  He took the proffered leg and began to gently massage her foot.  “Didn’t they look alright?”

“Of course they did, hon.”  He released her foot and leaned in to kiss her.  “I’ll do my best to stick to the list, alright?”

“Just be prepared to spend more time on my poor feet if you don’t.”

“What are you planning to cook?  For curiosity’s sake.”  He reached for her bag and retrieved her pumps.

“I’m making tomato and ground veal tortellini with a sage cream sauce.  We’ve had that pasta maker for months, and I feel like we should use it or get rid of it.”

“You’re making pasta from scratch?”  He offered her a skeptical smirk as he slipped first one and then the other shoe onto her feet.  “On a work night?”

“Just for that, you can have boxed pasta.”

Will lifted her off the desk and set her down in front of him; he pressed a kiss to her temple and turned toward his desk.

“I’ll bring home your groceries, Mac.”

 

It was 6:30 pm when Will finally had his first break of the day.  The rundown meetings had been off the rails all day, and he didn’t have much hope that the broadcast would be better.  Every time they had a solid rundown, another story hit.  Tsunami in the Pacific.  Some sort of unrest at the funeral for the latest Qumari leader.  It was just going to be one of those days, and on these days, more than most, he missed having Mac in his ear and Charlie upstairs.

“Jim!” he bellowed from his office into the bullpen.  Jim came through his office door moments later.

“You called?”  Jim raised his eyebrows at Will.  They had worked toward a tentative peace; they both agreed that he would never be Mackenzie and so Will would never fully warm to him.  But, they were working on it.

“I’m going out.”

“There’s 90 minutes to air.”  Jim sounded calm, but Will saw the flicker of panic in his eyes.  “And they’re still building the package on the state funeral in Qumar.  Didn’t you want to approve it?”

“I’ll be back by 7:15.”  He stood and pulled on his raincoat.  “I just didn’t want you to worry that I had gone AWOL.”

“Alright.”  Jim nodded, frowned, and left Will’s office.  He cast a casual look around the bullpen, eyes seeking Sloane or Elliot—just in case.  He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“I trust you to green light the story.  Don’t worry.  I’ll be back, Jim.”  Will offered what he hoped was a reassuring smile and headed for the elevator.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finished, finally, and dedicated to our dear friend whufc, who's dealing with a babykins who is under the weather. Love you, pal!

It was 7:20 pm when Will came striding back into the bullpen looking very pleased with himself.  Jenna instantly appeared and reached for the two burgeoning grocery sacks he carried.

“There were only three things on that list,” she said with a small frown.

“And how would you know that?”

“Mac gave me a copy of the list to slip into your pocket after the show.”

“Well, I got the damn things.  And some more.”  He grinned at Jenna.  “I think I’ve circumvented either Mac or me losing the bet.  We both win this way.”  A glance at the clock brought a furrow to his brow.  “My suit in the office?”

“Behind the door.”

“Find some space in the refrigerator for that stuff, will you?”

“Sure.”

As Will crossed the threshold into his office, he heard Jenna address Jim.

“I told you he’d be back.  He’d never miss a show.”

“That’s naiveté talking, Jenna.  All bets are off when he’s proving himself to her.”

Will let the office door swing shut behind him with a smile.  Jim was right.  Jenna was too; he’d never miss a show if he could help it, but he’d do anything for Mackenzie.

 

The show passed unremarkably, though Will took a moment as he changed back into his street clothes to appreciate that a good show, one in which they did _the news_ well and with integrity, had become so commonplace in their world that it was unremarkable.  He sent up a silent high five to Charlie.

It was 9:25 pm before Will exited the elevator into his home, a bag of groceries on each hip.  The apartment was quieter than he expected, and the only light came from the kitchen.  He scented the air and was mildly surprised not to find anything that hinted of food cooking.  On finding the kitchen empty, Will tucked the cold foodstuffs into the refrigerator and began to search for his wife.

He found Mackenzie, wrapped in a towel, asleep on top of their bed, the picture of peace.  Will shook his head with a smile and contemplated leaving her to sleep before sitting down beside her and tracing gentle patterns on her shoulder.  She came awake gently, shifting instinctively into his touch.  Her eyes opened slowly and she smiled.

“Hi.”  Her voice was heavy with the last tendrils of sleep.

“Hey,” he said, leaning down to capture her lips with his own.  Her lips parted beneath Will’s, and she gave herself over to the kiss.  The kiss deepened, and Will reached to tug the towel down from where it was wrapped around her.  As his fingers skated gently over her collarbone and ghosted lower, Mackenzie’s eyes flew open wide and she pulled away from Will.

“Shit!”

“What?”  Will responded to her exclamation with alarm.

“I feel asleep.”

“But you look so cute in a towel,” he offered.

“Dinner, you goon.  I’ve dropped the ball on dinner.”

“Told you that you didn’t have it in you to stick to a recipe.”  He smiled smugly and pulled her close for another kiss.

“That’s wildly unfair,” she said, lips a breath from Will’s.  He shook his head and smiled at her. 

“Are you hungry, Mac?”

“For supper?”  Will’s eyebrows rose at the blatant come-on from Mackenzie.  He gave his response in the form of action, toeing off his shoes and shedding his sweater in the same breath.  Mackenzie laughed.  “Guess you’re not starving either.”  She gave herself up to his mouth on hers, dismissing the idea of cooking- of doing anything other than fully experiencing Will.

 

A long while later, Mackenzie was roused from a light sleep by the sound of Will’s stomach rumbling beneath her ear.

“Mmmm… sounds like you might be hungry now.” 

Mackenzie shifted to extricate herself from Will’s arms and to sit up, but he tightened them around her, keeping her tight against him.

“Starving.  Probably to death.”  She tried to sit up again.  “Too.  Weak.  To.  Let.  You.  Up.”  He mocked out each word, pressing a kiss to her temple when he finished speaking.  She sighed and relaxed against him again.  After a minute, she spoke.

“Hey, how did you get that footage from Qumar?  It was gold.”

“I’m a journalist, Mackenzie.  I never reveal my sources.”  He chuckled under his breath.  It had been a major coup to get the footage, and he had known she would be impressed.

“I’m sleeping at Sloan’s until you do.”  There was teasing in her tone.

“Bullshit.”  She tried to raise herself off his chest again, but he held fast to her and spoke again.  "Jim knows a guy, from when… fuck, from when you were overseas together.”  Realization dawned on him.  “Did I get that footage from you, Mackenzie?”  She began to giggle and then to laugh outright.  “Dammit, Mac.  You set me up!”

“We’ve always made a good team.”

“You miss being in a newsroom.”  He issued the statement with certainty.

“Terribly.”

“Do you want to come back?”

“I want to make Charlie proud.”  She paused, allowing herself to mull the question for a moment.  “I like the challenge, and I’m getting good at it.”

“You were good at it from the beginning.”  She swatted his chest at the praise, unwilling to accept it without a fuss.  “So, you got the footage.  What did that cost you?”

“Nothing really.  I made a call to someone I used to know who's been infiltrating that regime for a while.  He’s pretty pissed that the old man died before someone could take him out.”

“Maybe there will be some real change there now.”

“There are already asylees here applying for visas to get back.  They’re ready to rebuild their country.”

“Hope for a better day.”  She nodded silently against him.  Another minute passed before Will gently lifted Mackenzie off his chest.  “Come on, hon.  I need food.”

“I’m not making pasta from scratch at 1 am, Billy.”

“I’m not asking you to.”  She pouted for a moment.  “What’s the matter?”

“I wanted to make pasta from scratch.”

“Tomorrow.  Tonight, how about mac and cheese from a box.”

“With an exorbitantly expensive bottle of wine.”  Will chuckled at her.

“Sounds like a plan, McHale.”

He drew her up into his arms again and kissed her breathless one more time before heading for the kitchen.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your patience is totally appreciated, and I’m so thankful for all of you who are still here!
> 
> The three things were a state funeral for a fallen dictator, tomato sauce, and rain boots.
> 
>  

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know how you like it so far (and that you're still here)!


End file.
